The present invention relates to a disc player for use in playback of both a minidisc (MiniDisc, MD) and a compact disc (Compact Disc, CD).
FIGS. 1A and 1B show arrangement of a minidisc and a compact disc on a conventional disc player for use in playback of both a minidisc and a compact disc.
In FIG. 1A, a minidisc 100 and a compact disc 101 are arranged side by side on one and the same plane. Reference numeral 100a designates a center hole of the minidisc 100; 100b a shutter of the minidisc 100; 100c a housing of the minidisc; and 101a a center hole of the compact disc.
Let A be the dimension of one side of the housing 100c of the minidisc 100, B the clearance between the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101, and C the dimension of the outside diameter of the compact disc 101, then the dimension D1 for arranging the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 in plane is A+B+C. The dimensions A and B are those determined in accordance with the standard (A=72 mm, C=120 mm). For example, when dimension B is set to 5 mm, dimension D1 needs to be (D1=72 mm+5 mm+120 mm) 197 mm.
The disc player for use in playback of both a minidisc and a compact disc to be mounted on vehicle cannot be mounted on a console box in almost all of vehicles unless they conform with the DIN Standard (West Germany Standard). For example, "1DIN size" set forth in the DIN Standard is 178 mm (width).times.53 mm (height) in front panel size, which is outside the "1DIN size" in the above-described arrangement. Therefore, the disc player corresponding to the DIN Standard cannot be prepared.
The inventors of the present application have repeated their studies, and proposed the arrangement of the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 by making an optical pickup 103 for use in playback of both a minidisc and a compact disc the smallest dimension.
In FIG. 1B, the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 are arranged side by side on one and the same plane. In consideration that the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 are not used simultaneously, the pickup 103 provided between the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 is miniaturized to the smallest limit whereby the center holes 100a and 101a of the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 are brought close to each other so that the distance L1 between the centers in FIG. 1A is changed to the distance L2 between the centers in FIG. 1B.
Let E be the dimension where the minidisc 100 and the compact disc 101 overlap, then dimension D2 is A+C-E, which indicates the dimension shortened by B+E from the dimension D1 (A+B+C) shown in FIG. 1A. With this, D2 is the dimension of more or less 180 mm, which is however not within the "1DIN size".